January 8, 2004 USATODAY reported this on their website:
Woman admits she lied about losing $162M lottery ticket
CLEVELAND (AP) — A woman admitted through tears Thursday that she lied about losing the winning ticket for a $162 million lottery prize, saying: "I wanted to win so badly for my kids and my family."
Elecia Battle, 40, is dropping her lawsuit to block payment of the 11-state Mega Millions jackpot to the certified winner, her lawyer Sheldon Starke said.
"I wanted to win," Battle said. "The numbers were so overwhelming. I did buy a ticket and I lost it. I wanted to win so bad for my kids and my family. I apologize."
The Cleveland woman had filed a police report saying she lost the ticket, possibly when she dropped her purse outside a convenience store. The lottery dismissed the claim and declared Rebecca Jemison, 34, the winner on Tuesday…
This woman believes that 162 million dollars will solve her problems… blessing will come if only there are 162 million dollars to her name. So she schemed to get the “blessing” and made life a misery for all involved! Now she is shamed publicly, embarrassed all her family and friends because of her lies.
“I’m not a bad person, I’m really not," she said. "Everyone has a past."
As the USATODAY report noted:
Police and court records show Battle has a criminal history. While working at a Richmond Heights pharmacy in 1999, Battle used a customer’s credit card number to make
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